26/06/07 - Donation Statements furnished by political parties for 2006

Part 2 - Disclosure of donations by the appropriate officers of political parties

A political party is defined in the Act as a party that is registered in the Register of Political Parties to contest a Dáil or European Parliament election. Section 71 of the Act provides that each political party must appoint an appropriate officer. Where no appropriate officer stands appointed at any given time, the leader of the party is deemed to be the appropriate officer.

Section 24(1)(b) of the Act provides that the appropriate officer of a political party must furnish a Donation Statement to the Standards Commission not later than 31 March every year. The Donation Statement must show, in relation to the preceding calendar year, whether or not, during that year, the party received any donations exceeding €5,078.95 in value. For each such donation, the actual value and nature of the donation must be stated together with the name, address and a description of the donor. In accordance with section 24(3) of the Act, the Donation Statement must be accompanied by a Statutory Declaration to the effect that the Donation Statement is correct in every material respect and that all reasonable action has been taken in order to be satisfied as to its accuracy.

In accordance with Section 22(2)(a) of the Act, a donation to a political party means any contribution given for political purposes by any person, whether or not a member of a political party. A person means an individual, a body corporate or an unincorporated body of persons.

A donation can include:

(i) a donation of money;
(ii) a donation of property or goods;
(iii) the free use of property or goods;
(iv) a free supply of services;
(v) the difference between the commercial price and the (lower) price charged for property, goods or services;
(vi) a donation received by way of a contribution made to the net profit from a fund-raising event.

Section 22(2)(c) of the Act provides that a donation made to a political party, whether made directly or through an intermediary, is deemed to be a donation to the party if it is made to party headquarters or to any branch or other subsidiary organisation of the party, to any candidate of the party at a local election or direct election, to any member of the party who is a member of a local authority, or to any officer, member or agent of the party or of any branch or other subsidiary organisation thereof.

Section 22(2)(c) also provides that where a donation made to a TD, Senator or MEP is passed on to a political party and a written acknowledgement of the donation is received from the party, the donation will be deemed to have been made to the party.

Section 22(2)(d) of the Act provides that the values of donations received from the same person in the same year must be aggregated and, if the total value exceeds €5,078.95, the donations must be disclosed.

In accordance with section 24(1)(b) of the Act, the Standards Commission produced a Donation Statement/Statutory Declaration form (06/PP/DS) for use in respect of the 2006 calendar year. A copy of the form was sent to the appropriate officer of each of the thirteen registered political parties on 8 March 2007 for return by the statutory deadline of 31 March 2007.

A Donation Statement/Statutory Declaration form was received from 6 of the 13 registered political parties by the statutory deadline of 31 March 2006. It was necessary to issue reminders to the appropriate officers of the Labour Party, the South Kerry Independent Alliance, the Socialist Workers Party, the Workers Party and the Communist Party. The Donation Statements were subsequently received from the Labour Party on 16 April 2007, the South Kerry Independent Alliance on 16 April 2007, the Socialist Workers Party on 19 April 2007, the Workers Party on 27 April 2007 and the Communist Party on 13 June 2007 .

It is an offence for the appropriate officer of a political party to fail to return the party's Donation Statement by the statutory deadline. Although the appropriate officers of the Labour Party, the South Kerry Independent Alliance, the Socialist Workers Party, the Workers Party and the Communist Party failed to comply with the Act by submitting their Donation Statement after the statutory deadline, the Standards Commission decided not to refer these matters to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

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